Bent Spoons

Sometimes, I just feel lazy.  Most of the time, I'm on-the-go; needing to be here or do this, 5 minutes ago. =P  Recently, I found myself in limbo: wanting results immediately, but being too lazy to gather the resources to get the job done.  Surely, you can identify? You may not find this super-spiritual, but it was important to me... I wanted ice cream!  I had a craving while I was in the middle of a project and I thought to myself: "Self, can't you take a few minutes for some cho-cho time?" I analyzed the situation and determined I could afford a little time to indulge in one of God's greatest blessings.  Being the considerate husband that I am; I didn't want to dirty any more dishes, nor did I want to take the time to find where my wife relocated the ice cream scoop to, so I pulled a regular spoon out of the drawer.  I could feel the anticipation surging through my veins as I grabbed the carton of ice cream out of the freezer and retrieved the chocolate syrup (you've gotta have chocolate syrup) from the fridge.  This was gonna' be perfect - the only dirty thing would be this spoon! I would just take a spoonful of ice cream, put a few drops of chocolate syrup on it, and WHAM!, cho-cho delight! =D I'm trying to convince Gina that we need a separate freezer set at the perfect serving temperature for ice cream, just for ice cream. She's "thinking about it." Anticipation soon led to frustration because the ice cream was too hard. I ended up getting "shavings" of ice cream. I wanted a real bite of this frozen, chocolate goodness! You'd think that I'd give in and find the scoop and get a bowl, right? Wrong. I was determined to see this dream come true, just as I pictured it!  In my impatience, I dug in... and bent my spoon in half.  =( Why me, Lord?! I relented and got the ice cream scoop and a bowl; and wouldn't you know it... it worked much better.  I unbent my spoon (there's still a "wrinkle" in the handle), doused my ice cream with liquid cho-cho, and convinced myself that I wasn't "settling" by eating my ice cream out of a bowl. =P As I ate, it hit me: we've got a lot of "bent spoons" in our church.  In fact, the whole church is a collection of "bent spoons!" We make a bad choice; we try to do something we weren't meant to do; we get all flustered and impatient and we try to force our way into something... and, next thing you know, we're all bent up and mangled.  Realizing our condition, we're certain that we've been rendered useless and we'll always be disfigured; a disgrace. But Someone greater than ourselves straitens out our mess and chooses to use us still! Sure, there's a "wrinkle" that hints at something that went wrong in the past; but every scar carries a story of healing with it too. God has revealed Himself as "Redeemer" because His most beloved creation needed redeemed! He takes what seems worthless, useless, ugly, and irreparable; and He makes something beautiful, that He can use for His glory! That is why we must take great care not to get all "bent up" again after He makes us straight.  Check out 2 Timothy 2:21: "If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work." Maybe you're "bent up" right now... put your heart, and your life, in God's hands. Like the spoon on the table, we can't straighten ourselves out; the more you try, the more discouraged you become. It's only because of Jesus (what He did for us on the cross) that we're able to come before God and be transformed - not just straightened out.  If you want to know more about how God can heal and restore you; please, Contact Us. For those who have a growing relationship with Jesus, here's some other Bible verses to chew on as you consider the "bent spoons" in your life:

| Revelation 21:5 | 2 Corinthians 5:17 | Romans 8:1 |

  -Pastor Joel Traylor II Be Faithful, Be Consistent, Be Intentional